Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal is a family saga, mystery, comedy, and romance twisted together through a teasing multi-storyline tale.  The main storyline follows Nikki, an independent university drop out in her early 20s struggling to find her path. The daughter of Punjabi immigrants, she has spent much of her life trying to distance herself from the traditional Sikh community.

Through a series of miscommunications, Nikki finds herself teaching an English literacy class to Punjabi widows. After an errant erotic novel finds itself into the hands of one of the literate widows, the class evolves from a literacy class to an erotic storytelling class.
In a community where everyone gossips, the topic of their class must be kept secret. As one would expect in any close knit community, word gets out and the community discovers more than they ever expected about these white clad widows.

Full of vivid imagery, likeable characters, and an immersive cultural experience, Balli Kaur Jaswal provides an entertaining and informative glimpse into the Punjabi immigrant community in London.  The narrative follows a Sikh mother who has recently lost her daughter, Nikki’s budding relationships with the widows in her class and a young man from the community, and finally, the erotic stories themselves.  These pieces are all woven together to create a fun-loving and heartfelt story of community and self-acceptance.  

 I loved how the author presented fairly stereotypical characters then turned them into something entirely different. The humour from the book was particularly fun but I also appreciated learning new things about the Sikh community through this humour.  You will find a similar read in Everything was Good-Bye by Gurjinder Basran, but otherwise, there’s really nothing quite like this book.